Electric organ transposing switch



April 24, 1962 M. M. wlCK ELECTRIC ORGAN TRANSPOSING SWITCH 4Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 27, 1960 FICS.|.

106 5 INVENTOR {a MARTIN M. WICK 575v jw ATTORNEY figgiggim April 24,1962 M. M. WICK 3,030,848

ELECTRIC ORGAN TRANSPOSING SWITCH Filed May 27. 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR M105 MARTIN M.WICK

BY Mimi? ATTORNEY April 24, 1962 Filed May 27. 1960 M. M. WlCK ELECTRICORGAN TRANSPOSING SWITCH 4 Shets-Sheet s ATTORNEY 4 Sheets-Sheet 4INVENTOR MARTIN M. WICK April 24, 1962 M. M. WICK ELECTRIC ORGANTRANSPOSING SWITCH Filed May 27. 1960 ATTORNEY v United States Patent3,030,848 ELECTRIC ORGAN TRANSPOSING SWITCH Martin M. Wick, 1711 S.Washington St., Highland, Ill. Filed May 27, 1960, Ser. No. 32,227 6Claims. (Cl. 84-445) This invention relates to a transposing switchwhich enables the person playing an electric or electronic organ tochange the musical key in which that person is playing with a minimumamount of effort.

One object is to provide a means whereby the instrument may be made toproduce music in any key regardless of the key in which the compositionis written.

A second object of the invention is to provide an attachment for presentelectric and electronic organis which is designed to effectuatetransposition and which shall be economical to construct, easy toinstall and simple to operate, while at the same time providing reliableoperation over a long period of time without maintenance.

A further object of the invention is to enable the player to rendermusic into any key or pitch desired without a change of fingering of themusic as written. This occurs for instance when a singer wishes theaccompaniment pitched higher or lower than the music is written, so asto suit the singers voice better.

A still further object of the invention is to lessen the labor andlength of time necessary to enable one to play compositions which areditficult of execution for players of lesser accomplishment due to thefact these compositions have been annotated in keys having many sharpsor flats. The object can be accomplished with my invention by playingthe compositions from copies annotated in an easier key, and causing thecompositions to issue in the more difficult key desired by the simpleuse of my transposing switch.

There are twelve musical keys of varying degrees of difiiculty in mentalor digital transposition. With my transposing switch the player can havea composition issue in any key and still avoid the black digitals nomatter how many tones up or down the scale he transposed the music. Itwill be noted that I use the term digitals to refer to the actualphysical individual keys which make up the keyboard. The term digital isin this description employed so that the key or pitch of the music willnot be confused with the key which the fingers of the player touch, Thedigitals are the individual parts of the manual keyboard as the pedalsare the individual parts of the pedal keyboard.

It is therefore to be understood that any composition whatsoever,written in any key, may be played by means of my transposing switch withthe fingering as Written, and yet the music heard will be in any one ofthe twelve keys chosen by the switch.

Music is not usually written in G-flat or B-natural since these keys aretoo difiicult for most players, and this is simply due to the difiicultyintroduced by the use of a large number of black digitals. There is noother reason why these keys or pitches should not be used as often as Cmajor. With my transposing switch, the composition can be written in thekey of C or of F and then the transposition of the music to another keycan be accomplished by means of the switch. The piece can thus be playedin the key of C or of F, which are simple keys and the switch willtranspose the relationships between the keyboard digitals and themusical circuits, whether they be on an electric or an electronic organ,so that the music will issue in whatever pitch has been chosen on theswitch. This switch enables the player with less practice in transposingto perform easily in any key and it further enables the accomplishedplayer to obtain many pleasing efiects by varying the key of thecomposition he is playice ing continuously during the performance of thecomposition at will.

An additional object of my invention is to provide a transposing switchconnected by wires between the keyboards, both manual and pedal, and themusic-generating circuits, with the additional requirement that thewires making the connections shall not be subjected to any movement bythe switching action. Any rotational or translational movement ofconnecting wires would cause flexing of the wires and result inevitablyin the breaking of the connections. All switching is accomplishedthrough spring contacts.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, as will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention consists in the novel construction,combination and arrangement of cooperating elements as hereinafter morespecifically set forth, pointed out in the claims and shown in theaccompanying drawings forming a part of the precent application, inwhich:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of one side of a printed circuit board which isthe stator of my transposing switch;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the reverse side of the printed circuit boardof FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of a printed circuit board which is the rotor ofmy transposing switch;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the reverse side of the printed circuit boardof FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of a printed circuit board which is the manualconnection circuit board of the transposing switch;

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of the reverse side of the circuit board ofFIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a side view, partly in cross-section of the assembly of thecircuit boards of FIGURES 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, together with a fragmentof the case and mounting elements for the assembly;

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary view of the assembly of the rotor and stator,with some of the spring contacts of the manual connection circuit boardshown in dotted line position, to illustrate the assembly of thetransposition switch; and

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary view of an alternative assembly of the circuitboards of FIGURES 2 and 4 which also will serve as a transposing switch.

Referring in more detail to the drawings, in which similar referencecharacters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, Ishall now describe an embodiment of my transposing switch which isdesigned for a conventional organ having a manual keyboard with 73 keyswhich I shall refer to as digitals. This embodiment of my switch designwill simultaneously switch the entire 73 digitals to any of twelve newpositions. For the purposes of this specification I shall illustrate thearrangement whereby the entire keyboard can be transposed downward 12tones. It will of course be understood that by alternative modes ofconnection, the transposition could be made to operate upward twelvetones, or by another alternative: down six and up six. Similarly theswitch can be made to transpose a total of only 10 or 8 tones or keys,or it can be made to transpose through a range of 14 or 16 keys, inwhich case there will be repetition of certain keys separated by anoctave.

In general a given keyboard, manual or pedal, consists of N number ofkeys. In the case chosen for the example, N equals 73. In general thenumber of keys switched by a transposing switch will be S, the number ofswitch positions. In the example chosen 5 will be equal to 12, thenumber of possible pitches.

Since there are 73 digitals and 12 additional positions required Iprovide the circuit board 101 of FIGURE 1, that is the stator, with Nplus S contacts. These coniscripted numerals.

tacts are separated from each other by the switching angle C, that isthe angle between the centers of the contacts. These 85 contacts arearranged around the periphery of a central opening 182-, which isoriginally formed from a circular holes. The opening 102 is not entirelycircular; it departs from this regular condition by the enlargement ofthe opening at 103.

Near each corner of the circuit board or stator 181 is a hole, numbered104, 105, 106, and 107. The group of four holes are used for mountingpurposes and are therefore called mounting holes.

In FIGURE 2 the reverse side of the stator 191 is shown formed of aprinted circuit. The board itself is of insulating material and the 85contacts which exist on the other side of the board also exist on theside shown in FIGURE 2. They actually connect from back to front by thewell-known techniques of eyelets or by plating through. In FIGURE 2 itwill be seen that the 85 electrical contacts around the periphery of theopening 192 are connected through printed conductors to 85 terminals, 42of which are disposed along the top edge of the circuit board 101, and43 of which are disposed along the bottom edge of the circuit board 1 inFIGURE 2. The numbers given to the terminals will be referred to intheir connection order.

FIGURE 3 shows the printed circuit board in the form of a circle, whichcomprises the rotor 108. There are shown 73, the number N, conductors inthe shape or form of arcs on the surface of the rotor 108 in FIG- URE 3.These 73 arcuate conductors correspond to the 73 digitals of thekeyboard of the organ. The 73 arcuate conductors are divided into 6groups of twelve and there is one more, nearest the center of the rotor108, which is denoted by 10 9. It will be noted, and this is mostimportant to my construction, that each and every one of the 73 arcuateconductors shown in FIGURE 3, that is each of the twelve in each of thesix groups, as well as the extra one denoted by numeral 109', eachextends through the same number of degrees. The length in degrees ofeach is equal to S, the number of switch positions, times C, theswitching angle in degrees. This point must be kept in mind through allthat follows.

Rotor 108 is provided with a central hole 110* shown in both FIGURES 3and 4, which is a shaft mounting hole. In FIGURE 4, the reverse side ofthe rotor, it will be seen that there are here also six groups of twelveconductors disposed on the surface of the rotor and an additional onemanked 109'. These six groups of twelve plus the one marked 109' total73 or N in number. Each of them is connected by a printed conductor onthe surface of the rotor inFIGURE 4 to a terminal. The numbers on thoseterminals are all denoted by sub- The subscripted numerals are used inunderstanding the connection order which will be discussed later.

There are in all .85, N plus S, terminals arranged around the peripheryof the rotor in FIGURE 4. They are arranged in the same configuration asthe contacts of FIGURE 2, that is they are separated by the sameswitching angle C. At the bottom portion of FIGURE 4 it will be seenthat there are 12, that is S, which are not connected by printedconductors. These twelve lie at the bottom of FIGURE 4 next to twelveindentations cut into the edge of the rotor at 111. These twelveindentations are segments of a circle of small radius and are used forindexing the rotor in its rotative position with respect to the stator.The twelve extra terminals are dummy terminals which will aid inunderstanding the switching action. They .can be dispensed with in anactual construction.

For a full understanding of the function of rotor 1% closer examinationof conductor 109" of FIGURE 4 and 109 of FIGURE 3 is required. It willbe seen that 1619 has near one of its ends a small circle, on one sideof its arcuate form. 189" is also a small circle. These two smallcircular conductors are electrically connected so that one conducts tothe other through the body of the rotor 188. This is accomplished asbefore by the wellknown eyelet techniques or by plating throughtechniques common in the art of constructing printed circuit boards.Further examination will show that every one of the other 72 arcuateconductors is electrically connected through the insulating body of 1%by a conductor penetrating the insulating body to one of the 72 smallcircles shown in FIGURE 4, which in turn is electrically connected toone of the 73 or N of the or S terminals disposed around the peripheryof rotor 108.

FIGURE 5 shows an arrangement of conductors, N in number, and terminals,N in number connected by printed conductors on one surface of theprintedoircuit board which I call my connection circuit board 112. Thisboard is provided with mounting holes 113, 114, 115 and 116,corresponding to the mounting holes 104, 1&5, 106, and 107 of the statorshown in FIGURE 1.

The circuit board 112 is shown in FIGURE 5 to be provided with 73 or Nconnection terminals in the form of small circles'denoted by numberswith primes. These primed numbers will be used in understanding theconnection order of these terminals later. These terminals are disposed,36 along the top edge of board 112 in FIGURE 5 and 37 along the bottomedge of the board.

-These 73 connection terminals are connected-by printed electricalconductors to 73, that is N, other small circles arranged in six groupsof twelve with one additional on the surface of board 112 as shown inFIGURE 5. The numeral 117 is given in FIGURE 5 tothe additional smallcircle conductor, that is to the one which is not arranged in one of thesix groups of twelve.

In FIGURE -6 it will be seen that there are 146 circular conductors. 73or N of these are larger; they are the same size as the 73 disposed insix groups of twelve with one additional shown in FIGURE 5. The oneswhich are the larger size in FIGURE 6 are electrically connected totheir counterparts in FIGURE 5. Thus 117 of FIGURE 5 is connectedelectrically to 117'of FIGURE 6, through the body of connection circuitboard 112. This again is accomplished either by eyelet tech nique or byplating-through technique, through the insulating body of board 112.

There are however 73, that is N, smaller circles on the surface ofconnection circuit board 112 shown in FIGURE 6. Each one of these 73smaller circles corresponds to one of the regular circles, that is thelarger ones, shown and described before on FIGURE 6. Thus for conductor117 of FIGURE 6 there is a smaller circle which is numbered 117". Thesmaller circle is intended merely as an indicator of angle for mountinga spring contact on 117.

Such a spring contact is shown at 118 in FIGURE 7 on board 112. The baseorfixed end of 118 issoldered in position on board 112 while the otherend floats free in space. For example when soldering in position thespring contact, the one end is centered on 117' of FIG- URE 6 and theother centered on 117". The end on 117' is soldered into final positionand the other end released. Similarly each of the 72 remaining largercircles has a corresponding contact-angle-determining smaller circleassociated with it as shown in FIGURE 6.

As the remaining 72 are divided into six regularrgroups of twelve, Ishall illustrate the positioning of the entire remaining 72 springcontacts by pointing out four near the center of one group. These are119, 120, 121, and

122. Four spring contacts are soldered at their bases. on the fourlarger circles after positioning the centers of groups of twelve eachare handled in exactly the same relative arrangements.

After all 73 spring contacts have been soldered on the side of thecircuit board 112 shown in FIGURE 6, the next step is to solder inposition the spring contacts on circuit board 101. Circuit board 101,the stator, is shown in fragmentary form in FIGURE 8 and in FIG- URE 7.Numeral 123 is given to the spring contact which is attached at its baseto circuit board 101 in FIGURE 7.

Spring contact 123 is shown in plan View in FIG- URE 8. To solder it andits neighbors, I prefer to fix rotor 108 centered in the opening 102 ofthe stator 101, that is the circuit board 101. When they are mountedcenter upon center in the position of FIGURE 8, it is a simple matter todetermine the angle of mounting of the spring contacts. The base of thespring contact 123 is laid on the small circle of 124, which is obscuredbut which is shown clearly in FIGURE 2. The opposite or free end is heldcentered on the nearest terminal, 125, of rotor 108 of FIGURE 4. Thebase end is soldered to the small circle 124 of FIGURE 2.

In the same manner 85, of N plus S, contact springs are soldered attheir bases on the small circle contacts around the periphery of thecentral opening 102 of the stator 101, in FIGURE 8. This will leavetwelve terminals of rotor 108 empty, the twelve with no connectingconductors in FIGURE 4. Of the twelve, eight are shown empty above thecontact spring 123 in FIG- URE 8; six of these are immediately adjacentto the contact spring 123.

To assemble the switch for one manual keyboard, consisting'of 73 or Ndigitals, I place the stator 101, the rotor 108, and the circuit board112 in the relationship shown in FIGURE 7. At the rightmost side ofFIGURE 7 is placed the stator 101, with the side shown in FIGURE 2oriented toward the right and the side shown in FIGURE 1 oriented towardthe left of FIG- URE 7. Thus the contact spring 123 of FIGURE 8 is onthe right side of FIGURE 7.

Mounted in the opening 102 of the stator 101 is the rotor 108. The sideof the rotor 108 shown in FIG- URE 4 is oriented toward the right sideof FIGURE 7, and against this side the spring contact 123 lies insliding contact. The side illustrated in FIGURE 3 of the rotor 108 isoriented to the left of FIGURE 7.

Pressing in sliding contact against the FIGURE 3 side of rotor 108 inFIGURE 7 is the spring contact 118. Spring contact 118 is similar to themany contacts, such as those mounted at 119, 120, 121, and 122 on theside of the connection circuit board 112 shown in FIGURE 6. These fourspring contacts are shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 8, as they are thereshown to lie on the back side of the rotor 108.

To hold the stator 101 and the connection circuit board 112 in rigidrelationship, mounting pins 126, 127 are employed. They are disposedthrough any adjacent pair of the mounting holes 104, 105, 106, 107 and113, 114, 115, 116 of the two printed circuit boards shown in FIGURES land 5. The boards themselves are held in fixed spatial relationship bythe spacer elements 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, and 133.

The rotor 108 is maintained in rotative position by being mounted on ashaft 134, which is disposed through the hole 110 in rotor 108, andthrough the central hole 135 of board 112, shown in FIGURES 5 and 6. Theshaft 134 is secured to the rotor 108 by the mounting bearing 136 whichis fitted to the shaft and the screws 137 which pass through the rotor108 and into the bearing 136. The entire assembly is disposed in thecase 138 which may be of any box-like construction. At opposite ends ofthe case 138 can be placed two bearings which are not shown, but whichhave as their function carrying the shaft in rotative relationship. Iprefer to have the case 138 sealed tightly and only have the shaft 134as well as the harnesses of the wire cables come out ofthe case.

A handle, not shown is mounted on the shaft 134 so that it may be turnedby the player.

In order to provide indexing of the rotor with respect to the stator101, I provide, as shown in FIGURE 8, a pawl or detent 139 which ismounted on the board 101 in the opening 103 of FIGURES 1 and 2. Thispawl rests against the indexing indentations 111 on the edge of rotor108.

To connect the transposing switch, the following procedure is followed.The manual keyboard having 73, or N, digitals or keys of an organ hasone wire for each digital which ordinarily connects that digital to theelectric relay which controls the air circuit to the organ pipecorresponding to that digital in a pipe organ. In an electronic organthat wire leads to a circuit element which corresponds to that digital.Thus there are 73 or N wires from the 73 or N digitals. To connect thetransposing switch to the organ the cable consisting of those 73 wiresmust be cut in half. First I will describe how to connect one-half ofthe wires resulting from the cutting. I will connect the halves of thewires which are connected to the music-generating circuits, air flowrelays in a pipe organ, or electrical circuit elements in an electronicorgan. For the sake of clarity I will refer only to the pipe organ.

I have given the numeral 1 to the wire connecting to the lowest note onthe pipe organ, that is to the lowest pipe, and the numeral 2 to thenext higher pipe wire, and so on up to the numeral 73 which is the wirecorresponding to the highest pipe.

This wire 1 I solder on the terminal in position 1 in FIGURE 2. Wire issoldered in position 2 in FIGURE 2, and so on up to the wire numbered 73which is soldered in position 73. It will be noted that there are twelveor S extra numerals, which are 74 through 85. In order that there willbe full continuity in playing and so that transposition of the entiremanual keyboard will not result in some blank notes at the ends of thekeyboard, I connect position 1 of FIGURE 2 by an extra wire to position74, similarly with an extra wire I connect 2 to 75, 3 to- 76 and so onuntil 13 is connected to position 85. This procedure completesconnecting the music-generating section of the organ to the transposingswitch.

Now I must connect the organ manual keyboard wires, which are the otherhalves of the wire cable which was cut. Starting again with the otherhalf of wire 1, this time taking the half connected to the digital onthe keyboard, I connect this in the position 1' in FIGURE 5. Theremaining half of wire 2 is connected in position 2 in FIGURE 5 and soon until the 73 or N wires from the digitals are connected to the 73positions marked as 73 numerals with primes in FIGURE 5 I have numberedwith subscripts the positions on the rotor 108 in FIGURE 4 whichcorrespond to the conductor connections 1 through 73'. Thus when rotor108 is assembled in the position of FIGURE 7, between the stator 101 andthe circuit board 112, with all the spring contacts in place, theposition of FIGURE 8 is obtained.

In the position of FIGURE 8 terminal 1 on the stator 101 connectsthrough it associated contact spring on the stator to the terminal 1' ofthe rotor, 2 connects similarly to 2', 3 to 3 and so forth. Through theconductors on the rotor these connections proceed and go through thebody of the rotor 108 to the back of the rotor where the long arcuateconductors are. In contact with these long ancuate conductors are thecontact springs, such as those at 119, etc. In FIGURE 8 these longarcuate conductors are shown in dotted lines since they are on the backof the rotor 108. Also I show a group of those four contact springs,which are shown in dotted lines also; they are numbered 119 120, 121 and122. These contact springs are soldered in position on the connectioncircuit board 112. Through their connections through all operatedsimultaneously by the use of a handle.

the body of the connection circuit board 112, they connect to theircorresponding terminals along the edges of the circuit board 112 shownin 'FIGURE 5.

Now referring to FIGURE 8, let us consider rotating the rotor 108counterclockwise by one indexing position. The pawl 139 moves to the adjace-nt indexing indentation 111. At the same time all the terminals onthe rotor 108 have been switched one position. The terminal which layunder the contact spring corresponding to 2 is now under the contactspring corresponding to 3. The one tormerly under 3 is now under thecontact corresponding to 4. However the action of the switch is suchthat the spring contacts 119", 1201, that is all 73 of them, still liein contact with the same long arcuate conductors that they 'did before.

This is the principle which is necessary to the understanding of theswitch action: The contact springs which are represented by 118 inFIGURE 7 remain in contact always, each with it respective associatedarcuate conductor on the FIGURE 3 side of the rotor 108. These springcontacts cannot contact any other conductor, throughout the twelveswitching positions. The arcuate conductors each terminate by passingthrough the body of the rotor, in a terminal which lies under the springcontacts on the stator 101. These last-mentioned spring contacts aresymbolized by 123 in FIGURE 7. Movement of the rotor relative to thestator exchanges the switch contacts by putting a different terminal onthe edge of the rotor 108 under a different. spring contact on thestator 101 and thus transposes the entire keyboard with respect to themusic-generating circuits.

For the desired twelve or S different switching positions, I have madethe angle which the arcuate conductors extend through be twelve timesaslong as the switching angle, that is the angle between the centers ofthe terminals on the edge of the rotor 108. Thus when the contactsprings on the stator 101 move through that switching angle to a newterminal on the edge of the rotor 108, the other set of contact springstouching the other side of the rotor 108 remain on their identicalrespective arcuate conductors.

Consequently it is possible with the transposing switch to perform thefollowing illustrative example. Press down any one digital on thekeyboard and hold it down.

.Rotate the transposing switch, through all twelve positions. A scale oftwelve notes will be played by the action of the transposition. Thespring contact 118 of FIGURE 7 remains in contact with its long arcuateconductor, but the switching action has moved twelve different springcontact springs 123 into active position'over the terminal on the otherside of the rotor 108 which corresponds to the arcuate conductor onwhich 118 rests in rotative sliding contact.

It will be seen that an immediate advantage of this construction is thatthere are no wires which flex or bend during the switching action. Theconstruction is extremely compact and provides a' truly efiicient smallswitch for electric organs and the like.

Of course the pedal keyboard of the organ requires a similararrangement, a subassembly of stator, rotor and connection circuitboard. I prefer to gang the subassemblies so that a second set for thepedal keyboard is mounted in the same case. .After properly connectingthem both keyboards can be switched simultaneously from the same handleon the same shaft. In fact I have tested this arrangement by making atwo manual keyboard and one pedal keyboard switch.

One set of subassemblies is made for each of the three keyboards. Thesethree are ganged in the same case 138 onthe same shaft 134, separated byspacer elements, and Of course for a larger keyboard a correspondinglygreater number of N terminals and conductors on the switch principle.

In FIGURES I show an alternative arrangement which uses no circuit boardcorresponding to 112, butaocomplishcs the switching arrangement bymeansof two elemerits, a stator 201 and a rotor 202. The terminal .203 isconnected to the music generating circuit as before. The contact 204 issoldered on the stator 201 and lies in spring engagement with theterminal 205 on the rotor 202. The terminal 205 connects to terminal 206where a wire connecting to the digital on the keyboard is soldered. Allthe digitals on the keyboard are connected to terminals on the rotor.Similarly all the wires from the music-generating circuits are solderedon the stator 201 terminals. Simple rotation of the .rotor 202 relativeto the stator 201 transposes each terminal 205 to theneighboring springcontact represented by 204. In this arrangement the wires that areconnected to 206 must be able to flex and for such arrangement I formthe cable or harness of wires loosely so. that they are able to do so.

While the invention is susceptible of various modifications, variationsand changes, I have herein described the preferred embodiment in detail,but it is to be understood that I have not thereby intended to limit theinvention to the specific forms disclosed but'intend to cover all themodifications falling within the scope of the transposing switch asstated by the following claims.

I claim:

1, In a switch for a keyboard of an electric organ having a given numberof keys on a keyboard, the given number being denoted by N, and having agiven number of switch positions denoted by S, correspondingto thenumber of pitches, a set of music-generating circuits numbered N andcorresponding to the keys of the keyboard, a stator containing N plus Snumber of terminals, a set of N number wires connecting the N keys ofthe keyboard to N of the terminals of the stator, a circular-shapedrotor containing conductors and terminals on its two sides, the side ofthe-rotor next the stator containing N number of terminals disposedaround the periphery of its circular shape, each of said rotor.terminals separated from its closest adjacent neighbors by a switchingangle defined as C degrees, spring contacts one of which is mounted onand fixed atone end to each of said stator terminals and its oppositeend resting in conducting contact against the aforemenioned terminals onsaid rotor, a seres of N number. conductors on the other side of saidrotor, said second-mentionedconductors communicating through the body ofsaid rotor electrically with the N number terminals on thefirst-mentioned side of the rotor, said second-mentioned conductorsbeing in the shapes of arcs of circles having radii less than that ofthe rotor, and the 7 length of each arcuate conductor being equal to anangle .in degrees equal to C degrees, the switchingangle, multione ofsaid spring contacts, a set of N wires connecting said last-mentionedterminals to the respective musicgenerating circuits, a case in whichsaid switch combination is disposed to-seal said switch, and arotatableshaft on which said rotor is disposed to rotate with respect tosaid stator and said connection board, and an indexing means on saidrotor and said .stator to index said rotor with respect to said stator.

2. In aswitch for a keyboard of an electric organ hav ing a given numberof keys on a keyboard, the given num-' ber being denoted by N, 'andhaving a given number of switch positions denoted by S, corresponding'tothe number of pitches, a set ofrmusiogenerating circuits N in number andcorresponding to the keys of the keyboard, a stator in the form of aprinted circuit containing N plus S number of terminals, a set of: Nnumber wires connecting the N keys of the keyboard to N of the terminalsof the stator, a rotor in the form of a printed circuit, containingconductors and terminals on two sides, the side of the rotor next thestator containing N number of terminals disposed around the periphery ofits form, each of said rotor terminals separated from its closestadjacent neighbors by a switching angle defined as C degrees, springcontacts soldered on and fixed to each of said stator terminals andresting in conducting contact against the terminals on said rotor, a setof N number conductors on the other side of said rotor, saidsecond-mentioned conductors communicating through the body of said rotorelectrically with the N number terminals on the firstmentioned side ofthe rotor, said second-mentioned conductors being in the shape of arcsof circles having radii less than that of the rotor, and the length ofeach arcuate conductor being S times the switching angle exprgssed inradians, a connection board in the form of a printed circuit boarddisposed adjacent to said rotor and on the other side from that of thestator, a number of spring contacts soldered on and fixed to saidconnection board immediately adjacent to the side of the rotor carryingthe arcuate conductors, said spring contacts on said connection boardbeing N in number and so positioned that each spring contact isassociated with and slidably in contact with one of said arcuateconductors on said rotor, a set of N terminals on the reverse side ofsaid connection board, each of which is conductively connected to one ofsaid spring contacts through the insulating body of the connectionboard, a set of N wires connecting said lastmentioned terminals to therespective music-generating circuits, a rotatable shaft on which saidrotor is disposed to rotate with respect to said stator and saidconnection board, an indexing means between said stator and said rotorto index the position of said rotor with respect to said stator and acase in which said switch combination is disposed.

3. In a switch for a keyboard of an organ having a given number of keyson said keyboard, the given number being denoted by N, and having agiven number of switch positions denoted by S, corresponding to thenumber of switches, a set of music-generating circuits N in number andcorresponding to the keys of the keyboard, a stator in the form of asquare printed circuit board, a set of N spring contacts mounted on andfixed to said stator, a set of N number wires connecting the N keys ofthe keyboard to N of the terminals of the stator, a rotor in the form ofa two-sided circular printed circuit board, a set of N terminalsdisposed around the periphery of the rotor on one side and oriented sothat the aforementioned set of spring contacts lie in conductiveengagement with said terminals, a set of N numbered arcuate-shapedconductors disposed on the other side of said rotor, said arcuateshapedconductors having a common center which is the center of said rotor, andall of said arcuate-shaped conductors having the same length in radians,said length being equal to S times the angle between switch positions,the set of arcuate-shaped conductors connected conductively to theterminals on the other side of said rotor by conductors through the bodyof said rotor, a connection board in the form of a square printedcircuit board disposed on the other side of said rotor from said stator,a set of N spring contacts on said circuit board disposed so that eachspring contact is associated with and slidably in contact with one ofsaid arcuate conductors on said rotor, a set of N wires connecting saidspring contacts on said connection board to the respectivemusic-generating circuits, and indexing means on said rotor and statorassociated with said switch positions, a shaft on which said rotorrotates with respect to said stator and said connection board, and acase in which said switch combination is disposed.

4. In a switch for a keyboard of an organ having a given number of keyson said keyboard, the given number being denoted by N, and having agiven number of switch positions denoted by S, corresponding to thenumber of switches, a set of music-generating circuits N in number andcorresponding to the keys of the keyboard, a stator in the form of asquare printed circuit board, a set of N spring contacts mounted on saidcircuit board and connected to the set of music-generating circuits,said spring contacts being disposed in a circle, a set of N number wiresconnecting the N keys of the keyboard to N of the terminals of thestator, a rotor in the form of a two-sided circular printed circuitboard, a set of N contacts disposed around the periphery of the rotor onone side, and lying in conductive contact with said spring contacts, aset of N numbered arcuate-shaped conductors disposed on the other sideof said rotor, said arcuate-shaped conductors having a common center andall of said conduc tors having the same length in radians, said lengthbeing equal to S times the distance between switching posi tions, theset of arcuate-shaped conductors being connected electrically to the setof N contacts disposed on the other side of the rotor, a connectionboard in the form of a square printed circuit board disposed adjacent tosaid rotor, a set of N spring contacts on said circuit board disposed sothat each spring contact is associated with and slidably in contact withone of said arcuate conductors on said rotor, a shaft on which saidrotor is rotatable with respect to said stator and said connectionboard, an indexing means which indexes said rotor in said switchingpositions, and a case in which said switch is disposed.

5. In a switch for a keyboard of an organ having a given number of keyson said keyboard, the given number being denoted by N, and having agiven number of switch positions denoted by S, corresponding to thenumber of pitches which are subject to switching, a set of musicgenerating circuits N in number and corresponding to the keys of thekeyboard, a stator in the form of a square printed circuit board, a setof N spring contacts mounted on said circuit board in regulardisposition around a circle, said spring contacts being connected tosaid musicgenerating circuits, a rotor in the form of a printed circuitboard, a set of N contacts disposed on one side of the rotor in a circleand oriented to lie under and against the aforementioned spring contactson said stator, a set of N numbered arcuate-shaped conductors disposedon the other side of said rotor, said arcuate-shaped conduc tors beingprovided with a common center and length in radians, the set ofarcuateshaped conductors 'being connected electrically to the set ofcontacts disposed on the other side of the rotor by conductors passingthrough the body of the rotor, a connection board in the form of asquare printed circuit board disposed adjacent to said rotor, a set of Nspring contacts on said circuit board disposed so that each springcontact is associated with and slidably contact with one of said arcuateconductors on said rotor, said last-mentioned spring contactscorresponding to said keys on said keyboard, a shaft on which said rotoris rotatable with respect to said stator and said connection board, andindexing means disposed on said stator and against the edge of saidrotor to index said rotor in said switching positions, and a case inwhich said switch is disposed.

6. In a switch for a keyboard for an organ having N number of keys onthe keyboard, and having S number of switch positions corresponding topitches, a set of music-generating circuits N in number andcorresponding to the keys of the keyboard, a stator in the form of asquare printed circuit board, a set of N spring contacts mounted on thestator in regular disposition around a circle, each of said springcontacts separated from its immediate neighbors by an angle equal to Cdegrees which is the switching angle, and each of said spring contactsconnected to said music-generating circuits, a rotor in the form of aprinted circuit board, a set of N contacts dis- .1 1 posed on one sideof the rotor in a circle and oriented to lie under and against theaforementioned spring contacts on said stator, a set of N numberedarcute-shaped conductors disposed on the other side of said rotor, saidarcuate-shaped conductors being provided With a common center, andhaving the same length in radians, said length being defined by theirbeing S times C, the set of arcuateshaped conductors being connectedelectrically to the set of contacts disposed on the other side of therotor by a set of conductors passing through the body of the rotor, aconnection board in the form of a square printed circuit board disposedadjacent to said rotor, a set of N spring contacts on said circuit boarddisposed so that each of said last-mentioned spring contacts isassociated With and slidably contacts with one of said arcuateconductors on 15 2,649,513

said switching positions, and a case in which said switch is disposed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS763,870 Finley June 28, 1904 954,436 Hunter Apr. 12, 1910 2,484,930Cornelius Oct. 18, 1949 Lulm Aug. 18, 1953

